Davey shares the experience of coming out to his family for the first time. When approached by his mother about his decreasing Church attendance and his relationship with women as a single, 30 year-old male, Davey felt he had no choice but to come out as a gay man. What followed was a conversation of filled with tears and love. Davey’s mother was proud of him. His father and sister have not been so accepting; his father accused him of not praying enough to rid himself of his sexual orientation, and his sister compared his sexual orientation to a drug addiction. He was called perverted for having “chosen” the gay “lifestyle.” While he finds his family’s attitudes to be less than ideal, Davey considers his sexual orientation normal, and his aggravating experiences coming out to be empowering. Davey has found that he is in better mental health and his attitudes towards the Mormon faith have improved since accepting his sexual orientation. He speaks about his experience as a gay man because he empathizes with gay youth whose families disapprove vehemently of their sexual orientation.

(The views expressed in this interview do not necessarily reflect those of the producers of Far Between but are reflective of some aspects of what it means to be homosexual and Mormon today.)

David Ashutosh

This was somehow profound for me. I have listened to others on this series and I have been out for years, but something in your story was somehow healing. I think partly because my family feels a lot, but they don’t talk about it, so it felt like hearing some of what they don’t say, but feel and it is more in passive aggressive behavior. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

People often go through a journey when they hear someone is gay, just like people go through a journey when they are sorting it out for themselves. I have seen families be really ugly for a while and then change and ‘soften their hearts’. Sometimes of course they never do. I am grateful to hear/see this story here and grateful to have someone discuss it right when they are in process dealing with the family conflict vs. when they have had a lot of time on it and can more readily dismiss it.

Thank you Davey for sharing your story.

http://twitter.com/IcarusArts Joshua Ligairi

Thanks for sharing your story, Davey.

Papa Joe

I don’t have sons. I have three daughters one of whom brought Davey into my life. If I had a son, gay or straight, I couldn’t love him more than I love Davey.